Posted 5 years ago on Feb. 2, 2012, 9:29 a.m. EST by therising
(6643)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement

We definitely have a serious PR problem right now. This is unfortunate because the press has latched onto a tiny amount of violence and property damage and has portrayed it as representative of the movement. But there is good news: as easily as the damage was done, it can be "easily" repaired, relatively speaking.

I think that the way to change public perception now is to have three or four smaller direct non-violent actions in different cities: New York, Chicago and DC perhaps. These would need to be well organized, peaceful and speak to the "money out of politics" and "income inequality" issues. This will get the broad support moving back our way. I would hope we could have large numbers of people who look like middle America so that when this hits news middle America sees their kids out there fighting for real things that matter and getting arrested for it. I think it's vital they see the willingness by people they consider mainstream to get arrested for what they believe in.

The beauty is that "get the money out of politics" and "address severe income inequality" are two causes that about 70% of Americans can get behind. To tell you the truth, as a result of that, I think this shouldn't be hard at all to repair the PR damage. We Americans have short attention spans and our national press is hungry for the next story

51 Comments

I have been preaching about corporate and created entity money influencing our political processes all along and am very glad that you mention this.

I thought of another way to deal with the city and the restrictions on the public side of the OWS movement.

Instead of having a march, a demonstration or a protest why don't we all print up cards with our names on them, with the Occupy Wall Street name and logo of your choice, with your city, i.e. Oakland Chapter Member.

Meaning we are all members of the OWS Movement and we belong to the local Oakland Chapter.

Instead of a march, protest or demonstration we picket. We are on strike and picketing Chase, Wall Street, the Courts, etc....

We are free to organize, we are free to practice collective bargaining.

The unions will get involved if any court attempts to deny us our right to form and organize. The public can understand and relate to this. The unions will eventually have to support this and will eventually refuse to cross our strike lines. The public will follow suit.

When I'm over my temporary decrepitude, I hope to bring something to this 'forum-post' by the ever so appropriately named "theRising" (my cap & I doff it !!) and this excellent and 'important' comment from the paradoxically and ironically named "unimportant" !!

Our "beautifulworld" needs us to put on our "shooz", get out there and help HER !

I'll bookmark the page and see y'all soon but in the meantime "May All The Powers Of This Universe and All The Powers Of All The Verses" watch over us all & know this ... we're in for The Long Haul as The Struggle extends waay past "The 2012 OBAMNEY Faux Election" !

It is organizing a national union of sorts for OWS and their members. With that organization we have collective bargaining rights.

I have posted this idea on a few of the occupy forums. Oakland could use this. It will do nothing for the occupation of a park unless the national strike and national picket lines can be used in that fashion.

It allows people that are not involved to get involved without the threat of arrest and other abuses.

I think it is a good way around the permit requirements and keeping this movement going in the direction it needs to be going in, the direction of change without the distraction of morons and idiots for the media to latch onto.

Post this as you will. PM me if you want to discuss this further and clarify some of the ideas so it might be adopted for your local occupy group.

I like this mind set, but would ad/change one thing about it. OWS could support the unions current protests. Anyone in or near Indiana could join the protests going on right now. Hold up signs, that say "Occupy Supports Unions Rights" or "OWS and Unions Represent the 99%". Lets support those that are already fighting. I think these already empowered groups would appreciate that much more than us speaking on their behalf.

I think this is a good idea, it is important to manage pr as well as possible, simply because media and image perception can be volatile... as long as we are careful to not compromise ideals or engage in questionable associations to get that 'good' pr...

It is unfortunate that the system, in its current state, does not function well for addressing problems effectively, and so protesting is turned to, to get visibility for these important issues...because otherwise the important issues do not get enough coverage...

How OWS is managed definitely can influence how it is perceived by the mainstream, in terms of if people think it is viable or beneficial enough for them to support it, so what you're saying is important...

However, having people arrested is also a concern and hardship on the protesters as well, and they can become frustrated if mistreated during protests... so it is a fine balance of concern for, and supporting, the protesters... and also to directly actively engaging on the issues...

Another main concern is to get the movement and progressive thinkers to focus on choosing and advocating a platform upon principles of reason itself, because then it is just academic that this would then be able to grow and ensure the movement and direction is constructive... Reason is quality control... and allows us not to base things on questionable assumptions or discussion difficulties...

Unless we can choose to rally specifically around what is technically reasonable, then it is essentially non-sensical to make demands on anyone else to be reasonable...this undermines progress for the movement...

As i think you're kind of saying, without clear plans and principles that people can understand and that can resonate to support sustained focus until success for important issues, then protest movements can tend to become reactive...
Internally, members can become frustrated, and more negativity may become focused on it by the media...

I have a feeling we're learning some lessons as will now tighten our message. The good people running this site are very smart and recognize all of this. Of this, I'm quite certain. I think it's understandable that people could get fed up. We just need to keep our eyes on the prize and focus on what gets us where we want to go. As much as I love rocks and bottles and the spirit of defiance their tossing represents, they're no match for automatic weapons, tanks, drones and missiles and the other 700,000 types of weapons we tax payers have purchased from various corporations that are now effectively wielded by those corporations. We're all getting smarter by the day. And soon we will unite and outgrow these chains. Rise up people. Unite and rise up. Rise up. Non-violence is the most powerful tactical weapon on the planet and we have as much of it at our disposal as we like. We're in the drivers seat.

It is important that we can celebrate the positive that we bring to each other and society by focusing on doing the right thing...

Yes, we can rise and chose to be on the same page and look past our differences - to question why we are where we are, step outside of the cynicism that has been yoked upon us, and see that we can chose a new way forward...

Agree that we should be focused on the safety of protesters... (including avoiding legal punishment, arrests, etc)... this may contrain some of how things are organized, but each individual is important...

This thing can turn on a dime. Press is like a school of fish... Just need to feed them. The more authentic the meal, the more they eat. OWS is a fascinating story. They can't help themselves. The major media prime time national news camera man I spoke with at American occupy encampment was beside himself. It was a
L he could do to stay behind the camera. He wanted to PARTICIPATE. Truth crushed to earth rises up as MLK said so eloquently.

What you just said doesn't make any sense. This movement is bigger than any leaders now. It is not an anarchist movement. It's a movement to restore our democracy by getting the money out of politics. And it can't be stopped. No matter how many times you say the word anarchist. Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come.

I think you are onto something, therising. In the end, the message of OWS will not go away and is so strong that it supercedes anything else. Most Americans agree with getting money out of politics, ending corporate personhood and addressing income inequality.

I'm not an organizer. I'm more of an issues person, to be honest, but targeted tactical maneuvers would be best in my mind. Less is more. Big numbers at more specific targets and less often. Maybe K Street, Super Pacs, the Supreme Court itself?

I think you're right on target. This is what the corpopolitical regime fears most: massive nonviolent protest by regular citizens in nonviolent way on the world stage where American ideals are measured against the truth on the ground. What the corpopolitical regime wants MOST and fears least is bottle throwing and property destruction. That's their wet dream. Let's deny them that and nonviolently justify their worst fears about regular citizens rising up in nonviolent direct action to expose injustice and force the hand of corpopolitical fascism.

I agree. They want the violence. If the movement falls into that it is a big mistake. I also think it's spreading out too thin. It's great that it is everywhere but the movement needs to focus on these big issues of getting money out and corporate personhood before anything else can be accomplished, really.

In my view it's time for DC to rise and make some common sense statements with a very clear and focused message related to Citizens United. I know it's been said but I'm talking about sustained relentless pushing for that one constitutional amendment. This will focus the nation on this one issue and will make effextively overturning that terrible supreme court decision a real possibility. DC is now perfectly positioned to lead the way. This is our time.

Exactly. And Capitol Hill. It will happen this spring. That seems pretty clear. The more they push on Occupy DC now and in March, the larger the mass crowds will be as weather warms. And make no mistake, park police won't be able to resist the growing demands of various reactionary congress people who call for eviction. The more truth gets spoken, the more the cries for eviction will ring out. And the larger the crowds in April. The American spring is coming. The Amwrican spring is almost here...

Many who are far more connected to the movement than I are on the ground organizing. I'm just a friendly supporter who is pretty much stuck on the west coast at this point due to obligations of running a company..

I think you're right about the movement being resilient. If we push on money out of politics, ending corporate personhood and addressing income inequality in a clear, concise, forceful, tactical and nonviolent way, we will win this.

I think if you just concentrate on getting money out of politics, the other problems will take care of themselves. I don't think most Americans have a problem with some people making a lot more money than others, just as long as they don't use that money to influence how laws are made.

When you phrase it like that, you are probably right. If you asked the same people if one should be able to pass on ones wealth to their children without a massive tax a majority would probably also agree. People are not that bright, it is all how you spin it.

Let's take Rubert Murdoch for a second. Every publication, every news outlet is going to be against OWS. Further, they have not, nor will they in the future, ever like or be fair to any of the issues that OWS has focused on.

Look: I'm a practical person. If I'm going to spend my time on something, my ideals and dreams will be first and foremost but I'm also going to make damn sure my time and energy is being spent wisely on action steps that further the cause. The

American press has run some negative and some positive stories on OWS. OWS got as big as it has because of the American press. It's because they're hungry. I have some PR experience that has led me to think strategically on this. And I can tell you that it is very clear that, if we get smart on PR, the message will get out.

I've dealt with plenty of organizations and companies whose leadership team complained about their message not getting out properly. They blamed their customers for being stupid. They blamed the TV stations. They blamed their contractor or outside forces. The truth is that they and their PR team were doing a lousy job thinking about how the press could carry their message. They will carry the message.

You lament them not getting it pitch perfect and can probably point to a bunch of "unfair stories" or spin. But I'll just point you straight to USA Today and CBS News polls that show 40 - 50% of American public behind the movement in October / November / December. And that all happens because:

our cause is just

our cause is sincere

our cause resonates with people because real people are experiencing affects of income inequality right now, are experiencing the effects of monied interests rigging the system thereby robbing them of the power of their vote.

We can get get a constitutional amendment to effectively overturn Citizens United supreme court decision. We can get legislation that effectively eliminates corporate personhood. With these and other measures, we can help get the money out of politics and when Americans see that, they will line up in droves again and again to help.

This is about to get fun again. As serious as it is, it is also going to be fun. Because we are about to win GirlFriday. Mark my words.

"According to a Bloomberg survey of those gathering for the annual world economic meeting in Davos, 70 percent said there is some truth that banks have too much power over governments, and that capitalism itself is in trouble due to growing income/wealth distribution."

"Sixty-one percent in this ABC News/Washington Post poll think the wealth gap is larger than it’s been historically. And despite longstanding public concerns about activist government, six in 10 also say the federal government should seek to reduce that differential."

If Capitalism is in Crisis it is due in most part to your beloved Messiah and his doubling down on Leftist spending and poor policy.

There you go,the way to solve your so called "income Inequality"...............More Govt. regulation of course. That's just what a free society needs is more Freedom robbing,wealth redistribution regulation and Govt. intervention in the private sector. Because that's worked so well before.

You know about as much about Governments role in a free society as your Muslim in Chief Hussein Obama. That is the real problem right there.